Jerusalem Woman’s Search for Diamond Engagement Ring Comes Up Empty
The Municipality of Jerusalem allowed dozens of haredi Orthodox volunteers to search through one of its garbage trucks, after a young woman accidentally threw her engagement ring in a city trash container.
The search was conducted Thursday at several locales, including on a public square in the predominantly haredi Orthodox neighborhood of Geula, west of Me’a She’arim, the news site news.walla.co.il reported. The ring, which has a diamond and is worth several thousand dollars, was accidentally thrown into the kitchen garbage can of the bride-to-be’s home and from there emptied out to a municipal dumpster, whose content were put into the garbage truck.
Contacted by the family, the municipality instructed the driver to unload the truck’s contents near the city’s designated waste disposal site. By that time, the family had recruited the volunteers who sifted through more than two tons of garbage for hours, but were unable to locate the ring. Smaller searches were conducted around the container, to rule out the possibility that the ring was in a number of garbage bags that did not make it into the truck that morning.
Meanwhile, the truck’s waste compartment and its mechanism were taken apart at a municipal auto service point and inspected, but the ring was not found in the truck, either.
On Friday, the family called off the search, after the volunteers returned the checked garbage to the municipal garbage container that had been emptied into the truck earlier on Thursday.
The bride-to-be is to marry next month. The family offered a $300 reward for anyone who returns the ring.
A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren
We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.
With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.
— Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief